Josh Reddick Keeps Astros In First Place; Frank Schwindel Leads Royals To 7th Straight

Players of the Day for Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Grapefruit League

Reddick: 3B, HR, 4RBI

With the Red Sox winning their ninth straight, the Houston Astros clung to a 1/2 game lead in the Grapefruit League with a no-doubter, 8-3 road victory over the Washington Nationals, one of the suspected contenders in the upcoming National League regular season.

Lance McCullers Jr. improved ot 3-0 for Spring, tossing 5 1/3 innings of shutout ball, allowing two hits, walking a pair and fanning six. When he wasn't mowing down Washington hitters, Josh Reddick was peppering the far reaches of The Ballpark of Palm Beaches, Washington's preseason home.

Reddick got the Astros on the board in the second inning, with a two-run triple, then scored on a sac fly off the bat of J.D. Davis.

In the fourth, Reddick delivered again, mashing a two-run homer to put Houston ahead by a score of 5-0. He singled in another at-bat, finishing the day 3-for-3 with four RBI.

At 31, Reddick has evolved into a dangerous batsman. After extended stints with Boston, Oakland and 47 games with the Dodgers in 2016, he found a home and regular playing time last season with the Astros, where he had the best season of his nine-year career, batting .314 with 13 home runs and 82 RBI, helping Houston to its first World Series Championship.

Cactus League

Schwindel: 4-4, HR, 4RBI

Kansas City has been on a tear, winning seven straight to pull into third place, a mere two games behind leading Milwaukee on the Cactus circuit.

Doing it mostly with a ton of hitting, the Royals banged out 19 hits in a 12-8 road win over NL Central division foe, Cleveland.

With plenty of fresh faces circulating around the Royals clubhouse, rookie hopeful Frank Schwindel may be one that sticks around into the regular season. In Wednesday's victory, Schwindel went 4-for-4, with three singles and a solo home run, driving in four runs and scoring twice. He was instrumental in bringing the Royals back from a deep, six-run deficit, legging out an infield single in the fourth which accounted for the first KC run.

After the Royals added three more in the frame, he and Mike Moustakas each launched solo homers in the fifth, Schwindel's tying the game at 6-all.

With Kansas City piling on, Schwindel singled in another run in the sixth and one more in the seventh, completing the scoring.

The 25-year-old first baseman is batting .378 this Spring, with six home runs and 16 RBI.